Flustered
by GlitteringSnow
Summary: "I would never admit to anyone that I enjoyed the closeness between me and Potter, the warmth he sent through my body, and the fact that maybe I kinda did want to kiss him."
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Okay so here is my first Harry Potter story. I'm very excited about this and hope everyone who reads it enjoys it as much as I have enjoyed writing it so far. I know I have a few other stories that I should probably pay more attention to but I write whatever plot bunnies come to mind and this one wouldn't leave me alone. Feel free to suggest anything you'd like to see in this story, DM me if you have any questions or queries or anything like that. **

**Chapter One**

**Girl's gotta sleep **

I couldn't feel my toes. That was the first thought that occurred to me, why was it so cold in here? I was in the Gryffindor common room, the fire was blazing in the fireplace so I really shouldn't have been so cold. I waved my wand at the fire, a tiny ball of flame floated towards me and hovered in the air next to me, the wave of warmth that followed it was greatly welcomed and I sighed as I relaxed further into the sofa. I was drifting off into a light sleep when I heard it, the voice that I'd come to dread.

"Hey Evans." I didn't want to wake up to shout at him, I pretended I didn't hear the voice, but he wouldn't let me do that, he didn't like it when I ignored him. I managed to regain my light sleep when I felt the couch dip as he sat down next to me but I figured if he thought I was asleep he would leave me alone, but this was Potter and nothing I did would ever make him leave, trust me, I've tried.

"Prongs what are-"

"Shhh, she's asleep." Potter hissed to whichever one of his stupid friends that had tried to ask him a question. My breathing had slowed at this point and I was on the brink of unconsciousness, Potter and his friends wouldn't dare do anything to me, even if I was asleep. I did however wonder why he hadn't gone when he saw me asleep, he had to know he couldn't bother me if I wasn't even conscious right? I though briefly about 'waking up' but I knew that as soon as I did he would annoy me.

I heard the rest of the 'Marauders' creep over to where we were sat, when one of them stepped on a creaky bit of floor I pretended to stir, but didn't open my eyes. What were they up to? I could give them detention if they tried anything seeing as I was Head Girl. True, Potter had somehow managed to become Head Boy but that wasn't going to stop me.

"Shh!" Potter hissed. "Don't wake her up, she looks so peaceful." He stated in a dreamy tone, I could feel the sofa cushions droop under his weight as he lent closer to me but I was so sleepy that I couldn't be bothered to move. I barely even felt his hand push some of my hair away from my face, and I barely felt his breath on my face as he lent closer, as close as he ever had to me before.

This was probably great for him, it was at this point when I realised that he was too close to me, this jolted me out of my sleep but I didn't open my eyes. I didn't want to see his face that close to me. I was drifting off again; I could feel it as I slid a bit further down the sofa. Potter hissed to his friends again, he probably thought I was waking up or something but I didn't. I could barely hear them anymore, but I did feel when I was gently pulled down to rest my head on something soft. It was very comfortable and didn't help me wake up at all.

In fact, I was falling into a deep sleep. The last thing I could remember was someone stroking my hair, just like my mother used to when she was alive, the thought made me sad but I wasn't awake enough to see who was doing it, although I could guess.

I had a very strange dream, I dreamt that I was in a boat in the middle of the ocean I was floating peacefully, it was the least stressed I'd ever felt in my entire life, it was so nice to not have to worry about N.E.W.T's or homework or any responsibility I had in real life, it was just me and the ocean. The bright blue ocean that was so clear I could practically see to the bottom. There was nothing that could go wrong for as long as I stayed on my boat. But as I looked into the distance I could see another ship sailing towards me. A single occupant sitting inside it, looking as calm and serene as I had felt a second ago. This single occupant was none other than James Potter.

I woke up with a gasp, why was I dreaming about Potter of all people? I looked down as I noticed that I was really, really warm, it was nice to not be cold for once. I was always cold now-a-days. But the thing that was keeping me warm, was Potter's arm which he had used to press me up against his body as he sat there. I saw that he was asleep as well, he must have moved us to the position we were in now because there was no way that I would voluntarily put myself in this position although I'm not denying it didn't feel nice, because it did. But that's not the point. I hated Potter. I hated him and his friends, and I had no desire to be so close to him.

So with as much stealth as I could muster I tried to move his arm from where it was practically locked around my waist. I couldn't do it though, no matter how much I tried to pull his arm off me, he just held on tighter. It got to the point where I thought he was awake, but one look at his eyes told me that he was dreaming still, his eyes were flickering underneath his eyelids in REM sleep, I wouldn't be able to wake him up now, without doing something drastic.

I started to think of all the ways I could wake him up so I could shout at him, there were quite a lot of possibilities, I could pour water over him, but then there was the risk that I would get wet as well, I could scream really loudly into his ear but I didn't want anyone to wake up and see us like this. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

I huffed as once more my attempts to slide out from under his arm were thwarted, why was this so difficult? I froze as he breathed deeply, turning his head so that it was snuggled into my hair, he better not be drooling on me or I was going to kill him. He groaned lowly in his sleep, fidgeting slightly and I really hoped her was going to wake up soon, I was feeling so awkward I was actually happy he wasn't awake. I looked longingly at the stairs to the girl's dormitory but it seemed like a pipe dream at the moment.

Finally I gathered my courage and shook him awake. He spluttered as he woke up, his glasses hanging off his face and his perpetually messy hair had managed to stick up stupidly on one side. He looked, dare I say it, cute.

"What-" He rubbed his eyes, the one arm still around me as I lay practically on his chest.

"Potter, I'm going to give you two seconds to get off me before I hex you into next Tuesday." I growled at him. He jumped, obviously forgetting that he'd fallen asleep next to me. He looked positively delighted when he noticed the position we were in. I could have killed him.

"Well Lily flower, I knew this day would come but for you be on top of me, I must still be dreaming." He leered at me, grinning like a fucking maniac. I huffed and tried to pull away thinking it might be easier because he shouldn't have a death grip on me anymore, of course I was wrong.

"Shut up Potter! Would you let go of me? Now, before I turn that dream into a nightmare." I hissed, shoving at the arm that he had tightened once more, bringing my body properly on top of his so that I straddled him. I was thrown off balance and had to use his shoulders for support before I realised where my hands were and shoved against him. He groaned underneath me and I looked at his face to see that he had his eyes shut tight and was biting his lip. I wondered if he was in pain or something before I remembered I didn't care.

I pushed against him again, trying to find a way out of his grip. "Get off me!" I wiggled on his lap and slapped his shoulders, grimacing as all he did was hold me tighter.

"I would stop that if I were you Evans." He warned, lips twitching at the corners.

"Why?" I snapped. "I want to get off." I continued wiggling trying to shift his hands off my waist.

"Believe me Evans so do I." I didn't understand what he was implying so I ignored that suggestive comment.

I finally lost my temper with him and attempted to take my wand out of my pocket, but I realised that it was on the table next to the sofa where I'd left it after levitating that ball of fire. Which was still there impressively enough. I huffed again and stared straight into Potter's eyes which immediately glazed over, I smiled softly at him which made his eyes focus on my lips. I leaned just a tiny bit closer, which made his head lean towards me, his hands going from my waist to my hips as my hands went to wrap around his neck.

But I bypassed his neck and pushed off the back of the couch to climb off of him. I grinned at him, noticing the small sigh he let out as he reacted too slowly to pull me back. I couldn't believe I'd been sat there as long as I had but I couldn't help but give him a wink as I pranced away from him up the stairs. I would never tell anyone what just happened, and if Potter did, who did you think people would believe?

I would never admit to anyone that I enjoyed the closeness between me and Potter, the warmth he sent through my body, and the fact that maybe I kinda did want to kiss him.

A thought that did occur to me however was how many people saw us asleep together on the sofa before going to bed, I was under no illusions that no one had seen us, they would have, but no one saw the almost kiss. And no one would ever know. I just knew that Alice and Marlene were gonna have a fit when I came upstairs, they were obviously gonna know that I had spent the night sleeping beside Potter. If they knew what was good for them they wouldn't bring it up in my presence.

I pushed off of the wall that I had been leaning on and climbed the rest of the stairs, but not before I saw Potter still sitting there with his head in his hands. I bit my lip, feeling a bit guilty for tricking him, but then I remembered that he had me on his lap for about five minutes and had slept next to me, and all feelings of pity were completely gone.

I sighed as I pushed the door open to the dormitory, quickly changing into my pyjamas and climbing into bed. I snuggled up to my pillow, saw on my alarm that it was six o'clock and resolved myself to an hour and a half restless sleep. I had completely forgotten that I'd left my wand downstairs.

My wand that was now in the possession of one James Potter.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks to my reviewers! My two guests and Super Cara! You guys are awesome :) I also want to thank everyone else who has started reading this and is still with me for this chapter. I hope you all enjoy it, and with nothing else to say except if you have anything you'd like to see don't hesitate to tell me, on with the chapter! **

**Chapter Two**

**Give It To Me**

The insides of my eyelids were glowing orange as the light hit me directly in the face. I winced and squeezed my eyes shut, ignoring whoever it was that was trying to wake me up and rolled over, far too comfortable to be bothered about waking up.

"Lily! Get up! We're going to be late!" That was all that needed to be said before I shot upright, hitting Alice who was the one who shouted at me right in the head. We both groaned as the pain shot through our foreheads, but there wasn't enough time for me to worry about that now. I was head girl for Merlin's sake there was no way it would be acceptable for me to be late, ever.

I left Alice who had now kneeled on the floor, massaging her temples as her eyes followed me around the room. I bounded into the bathroom and had the fastest shower I've ever had in my life, I looked for my wand to dry myself but I couldn't find it. I sighed as I realised I must have left it on my bedside table.

"Hey, Alice? Can you pass me my wand?" I shouted through the door, putting on my makeup. I waited a few minutes before sticking my head out of the door. "Alice?"

She was crawling on her hands and knees looking under my bed, as she heard my voice she peeked over the bed. "I can't find it Lils. Wait a sec, I'll accio it." She grabbed her own wand and said clearly. "Accio Lily Evans' wand."

We waited but it was clear that my wand wasn't coming out of any hidden crevices. I frowned, how could I have been stupid enough to lose my wand?

"Alice, what am I supposed to do without my wand?" I asked, voice trembling as I realised the full impact of what had happened.

She smiled at me gently. "Don't worry Lily, we'll find it." I nodded, hoping she was right, otherwise I was screwed. I finished getting ready quickly and Alice and I went down the stairs to the common room.

A sudden thought occurred to me. "Hey where's Marlene?"

Alice smiled. "She left when I was trying to wake you up, she said she wanted to get down to breakfast early so she could find a spot next to Black." I grimaced at the name of one of the Marauders. As if we didn't get enough of them already now we would probably have to sit next to them.

As my foot left the last step of the staircase, Potter sprung up from where he was sat on the sofa, the same one that we were on last night. I glared at him as he walked towards us.

"Hey Evans, sleep well?" He asked, smirking lightly. I almost growled at him but Alice cut me off.

"Yes James, I slept well too thanks for asking." She smiled and lowered her voice in what was supposed to be her impression of James. "That's great Alice, I too slept well."

James laughed, his eyes sparkling happily. I could have slapped myself, since when did I notice that his eyes sparkled? I shook my head and this movement unfortunately bought his attention back to me.

"I did sleep rather well Alice, I had the best dream." He winked at me, causing my face to go bright red out of a mix of anger and embarrassment. "Oh and by the way Lily, you forgot something last night."

I glared at him. "And what exactly did I forget?" I hissed.

He smirked before pulling my wand out from behind his back. I gasped and went to take it from him, but before I could he pulled it out of my reach, which wasn't hard because he was quite a bit taller than me, I only came up to his shoulder, which I punched in an attempt to make him drop my wand.

"Ah, ah. Ask me nicely and maybe, maybe I'll give it back." He had an infuriating smirk on his face as he dangled my wand in front of my eyes, quickly taking it back as I tried to grab it back.

"Give. Me. ." I snarled.

Potter tutted and shook his head. "That's not very nice now is it Evans?" He sighed as he twirled my wand around his fingers.

He raised his eyebrows as he looked at me once more. I sighed and closed my eyes, pushing my next words through gritted teeth. "Can I please have my wand back?"

He motioned for me to keep going. "Potter." He shook his head. "James." I sighed exasperated.

"That's much better, but I'm still not feeling the love, Evans. How about I give you your wand back, if you give me a kiss?" His eyes were intense as they locked on mine.

I had reeled back at his request, hearing Alice choking on her own spit as she realised what James had just asked. I narrowed my eyes at him, a few people behind him actually cringed away from the intensity of my gaze but not Potter. No, he was just standing there. Not even smirking at me. He was very serious, I could tell by his expression but there was no way I was going to kiss him.

"No way Potter, just give me my wand and I might not hex you into oblivion." I scowled. He shook his head and tapped his lips. "Potter, just give it back!" I shouted. I shut my eyes and ran a hand through my hair, when I opened my eyes again, Potter was a lot closer than he was to start with. I glared at him, but again this was to no effect.

He kept stepping towards me and to maintain our distance I kept stepping backwards until there was nowhere else to go and I was backed up against the wall. I could see everyone over Potter's shoulder looking at us; the other Marauders in particular were staring avidly. Alice had gone to sit with them, and watched the show just like everyone else.

I was about to say something but was cut off when Potter put both of his arms either side of my head on the wall behind me, lent down and pecked my lips softly, lingering when I didn't push him away, until I regained my senses and shoved him from me. I wiped my lips with the back of my hand, preparing to shout at him when he shoved my wand in my hands, turned from me and knowing the imminent hexing he was about to receive, ran for it.

I held my wand in my hands, glaring at anyone who dared look at me and stomped after Potter quickly, shouting, "Potter, get your arse back here right now!" I was going to kill him. I heard someone coming out of the portrait behind me, I had ignored The Fat Lady's spluttering about my rough treatment when I opened the portrait and the screaming early in the morning and now she wasn't very happy. Whoever it was who followed me out put their hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at them, an insult on the tip of my tongue, but that disappeared when I saw it was Alice.

"Lily just leave it, you've got your wand back, let's go to breakfast. I'm starving."

I gaped at her. "Alice! Did you see what he did? He kissed me, so now I have to go and kill him."

"Lily, don't be ridiculous. If you kill him, you'll be sent to Azkaban and then who will I sit with at breakfast? Speaking of which, lets go." She spoke casually as she took hold of my hand and dragged me down to the Great Hall. As we entered I looked around to see if Potter was there, he wasn't and neither were his friends, they were probably looking for him after he ran from me. I hope he falls down a well or something.

Sitting down at the Gryffindor table next to Marlene I immediately pulled a stack of toast towards me, buttering it quickly before stuffing it into my mouth. I was starving, and the thing with Potter just took up most of my breakfast time. I looked up when I saw the doors opening, frowning when the object of my hatred walked through with his friends, drawing the majority of the rooms attention to them. But of course they acted like they didn't notice and came over to sit next to us, I glared at them all as I furiously ripped through my toast.

"Whoa, Lily. What's up with the glare of death?" Marlene snickered as she stole some of my toast. I turned the glare to her before remembering she had been down here the whole time.

"Evans is upset with Prongs here." Black cut in before I could say anything. What is it with people interrupting me today? Must be pick on Lily day. There seemed to be one every week.

Marlene jumped at the chance to talk to him. "What's he done now?" She asked as if I wasn't even here. I huffed and dared anyone to repeat the incident, Black caught my eye and smirked.

"He planted one on her."

Marlene gasped and clapped her hands together. "You two kissed, oh I always knew this was going to happen. I can't believe I missed it. Alice were you there? Tell me all about it."

"There's nothing to tell. He kissed me, I hated it, I hate him, I hate his friends, and at this moment in time I hate you." I snapped, not believing my ears. What was she talking about, it seemed to me like she was on his side. She merely laughed at me, patting me on the shoulder as she turned to look at Potter, who was once again staring at me, but I refused to look at him.

She beamed at the two of us. There was something wrong with her. This thought was reinforced when she starting batting her eyelashes at Black who instantly started flirting back with her. I refused to look at her anymore, I looked at Alice instead who was happily chatting away with the object of her affections, Frank Longbottom.

I suddenly felt lonely.

This thought must have appeared on my face because not a second later I could feel someone squeezing in between Marlene and I, and that someone was, you guessed it, Potter.

He sure did have a lot of courage attempting to sit next to me. "Potter, what the hell do you think you're doing?" I snarled as I spun to face him.

He shrugged. "Sitting."

I breathed in deeply, hand moving towards me wand. "If you don't get away from me in-"

"Miss Evans, Mr Potter. I've been looking for the two of you." Professor McGonagall said, standing behind us. I fumed silently, closing my eyes before I plastered on a fake smile and spun around to face her.

"Hello Professor." I smiled.

She gave me thin smile back, I was one of the only students she smiled at, a fact that always made me feel special. She handed me a note which my eyes immediately poured over. "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you both in his office at 6 o'clock tonight. Here you go Mr Potter." She handed him the other note and went back to the Head's table, sitting in her rightful place on the right hand side of the Headmaster.

"I wonder what Dumbledore wants." Alice mused, I looked up to see that everyone was watching Potter and I and I wondered why, until I realised that I was letting him sit next to me, something that had never happened in all seven years we'd both been at Hogwarts. I ignored him though, getting my timetable out of my bad to see my first lesson was Potions with Slughorn, I groaned aloud. That man was going to invite me to the stupid slug club again and if I had to sit through another one of those I might just kill myself.

"Probably to talk about our Head duties, maybe he wants us to set up the first Hogsmeade visits." I suggested, putting my timetable back in my bag. I winced when I said that and waited for it, I waited for Potter to do what he does every time someone mentions Hogsmeade. But it never came. I was happily surprised and I turned to look at him, but he wasn't even looking at me, he was staring down at his note. Maybe his said something different to mine? I leaned over to have a look and accidentally brushed against him.

His head instantly snapped to look at me, but I just leaned back and pretended the blush that was now spreading to my cheeks was because of something else.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Being Taught A Lesson**

Breakfast was soon over and the first lesson of the day was Potions. Double potions with the Slytherins. I sighed as I pushed myself off the bench, ignored Potter and motioned for my friends to join me. We wandered down to the dungeons, chatting lightly.

"So you didn't kill him then." Alice smirked, nudging me in the side gently. I rolled my eyes.

"Only because McGonagall was there, if she wasn't he would have died a painful death." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest as we came to stand by the door, waiting for Professor Slughorn to open it.

Marlene chuckled as she leant on the wall next to us. "You guys have so much sexual tension it's unbelievable."

I gaped at her. "What? How could you even say that, there is nothing sexual-"

"Hello class!" Slughorn interrupted as he opened the door. I had immediately shut my mouth before anything more embarrassing came out and incriminated me. "Come in, come in." He moved out of the way and motioned for us all to come inside. The three of us took seats in the middle of the room, I didn't want to sit at the front because he always tried to partner me up with Severus and I couldn't deal with that anymore. Not since what happened at the end of fifth year.

I shook my head to get rid of the memories and took out my text book, parchment and inkpot. I didn't notice when Potter and his friends sat behind us.

Slughorn beamed at us all as he looked over us from his place at the front of the class. He stood over a cauldron that was bubbling gently, emitting a soft flowery sent that made me sigh slightly. Alice and Marlene sent me questioning looks but I only motioned towards the potion and they understood.

"Alright class, today we will be brewing the draught of peace, a complex potion which requires complete concentration, so any lollygagging in this class will have you straight in detention, do I make myself clear?" He looked sternly at us, but the effect was ruined when he randomly started chuckling at the end of his sentence, something he did three or four times a class.

When none of us spoke up he continued. "Right, you can work with the person next to you. Good luck, you have the rest of the lesson to complete it. The person with the best draught will not have to complete the essay for homework."

I smiled at Alice, Marlene had turned to work with the Ravenclaw boy who had sat next to her, leaving Alice and I to partner up. "You wanna get the ingredients or shall I?"

Alice stood up. "I will." I nodded and set about to setting up the cauldron, carefully lighting the fire underneath. I found the page with the potion and flipped to it, scanning over the stages and seeing what I could do to improve it.

Alice came back with her arms full, she bent down a bit so that she could carefully place everything on the table without spilling anything. I walked around to help her, taking the top items and putting them near the cauldron.

"I think I've got everything." She murmured, looking down at the table. She then turned to look at me. "What's the first step?"

I hummed as I looked at the book, handing her some moonshine for her to crush and powder. "First is powdered moonstone, so grind that and I'll grind up these porcupine quills." We both got to it and soon enough I was adding the powdered moonstone to the cauldron until the potion turned green. I stirred it anti clockwise, handing over the porcupine quills to Alice, who continued to crush them. I slid over the unicorn horn for her to crush as well.

The potion soon turned blue and I added some more powdered moonstone. I turned the heat up and waited two minutes for the potion to change colour again. I reached for the purple bottle labelled Syrup of Hellebore and took the stopper off of it, adding three drops before stirring again.

We followed the rest of the instructions until Slughorn told us to stop. "Everyone stop brewing, I'll be coming around to have a look at your potions in a moment." I bit my lip as I looked at our potion, it was a creamy shade of white but it could have been pearlier and less creamy in my opinion. I looked around at Marlene's, hers was a grey colour she obviously hadn't gotten around to the last few stages, probably talking with her partner too much.

I looked behind me and was surprised to see Potter and Black had quite a good potion in front of them, I didn't even know they were there; they usually would have done something to disrupt the lesson by now.

Black noticed my staring and sent me a wink before nudging Potter who was frowning down into the cauldron; I looked away before he could catch my eye.

"Hey Evans?" Black whispered, tapping me on the shoulder. I rolled my eyes before turning around and saw that to reach me he had to lean comically over the desk.

I searched for Slughorn and saw that he was on the other side of the classroom before answering. "What do you want Black?"

"I just wanted to say, that I saw you checking me out and I- Ow!" Potter had elbowed his friend in the side and gave him a pretty mean glare. I knew that Black was only joking so I decided to get some revenge.

I took another glance at Slughorn who was too busy helping out one of the Slytherins who had managed to make his potion emit some foul smelling smoke. I bit my lip before getting out of my seat, surprising both boys.

"You're right," I swallowed my pride. "Sirius, I was checking you out." I leant over the desk and looked deep into his eyes, enjoying the way he was blinking rapidly and I could see him swallowing painfully. I licked my lips slightly, noticing the way his eyes were automatically drawn to them and I swear he was about to lean in before we both were interrupted by a loud growl that Potter emitted.

I raised my eyebrows at laughed. "Aww, that's too bad Sirius. You and your boyfriend have fun." I winked and turned back around, almost flinching as I heard a smack behind me. I winced when I realised that Potter had hit Black but at the same time I found it a little amusing.

Slughorn had finally made his way to my side of the room, stopping to sniff at Marlene and the Ravenclaw's potion and smile uncomfortably at them. He stirred it once and leaned closer when it bubbled.

"A good attempt, I suggest next time you work on your timings." He left their potion and turned to mine and Alice's. He looked at it intensely for a second before beaming at us. I let out a silent sigh of relief and smiled at Alice.

"Another O Miss Evans, and you Miss Prewitt. Well done." He nodded before moving on, I was surprised he didn't talk to me for longer but I was relieved all the same. I wondered why he was in a rush but I realised that Potter and Black were behind me and were probably doing something that made Slughorn nervous.

I tuned out his words, already knowing he was going to praise them and I didn't want to be irritated by it. "What do we have next?" I whispered to Alice who was staring off into space.

She snapped out of it and dug into her bag for her timetable, dodging Slughorn's behind as he shuffled to look at the next potion. "It's Charms." I smiled, Charms was my favourite subject and the one I was best at. Our attention was drawn to the front of the room when Slughorn finally managed to squeeze back behind his desk.

"The winning potion goes to Mr Snape and Mr Malfoy." I groaned as did half the class when they realised we had to do the homework. I scowled at the two as I knew that the only reason Malfoy had even paired with Snape was because he knew they were most likely going to win, I bet he didn't even do any work.

Alice nudged me, making me look at her questioningly. "Don't worry, we'll get 'em next time." I smiled at her, she always knew how to cheer me up.

"For the rest of you, I want ten inches of parchment on the properties and uses of the Draught of Peace due in for next lesson. Off you go." I packed up my stuff, vanished the potion and caught up with Alice and Marlene who were talking about the Ravenclaw that Marlene had partnered with.

"He's so nice." She gushed. "His name is Austen and he is so smart and lovely and oh I just wanted to hug him." I laughed, happy she was happy and for once not talking about Black or Potter.

"You should go for it, the worse that can happen is he say's no." I encouraged, obviously not very well as she turned to frown at me as we moved out of the way for some students heading in the opposite direction.

"That in itself is pretty embarrassing, I know that's never happened to you but some of us are actually scared of rejection."

I raised my eyebrows, feeling slightly offended. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Before she could answer an arm landed on my shoulder, I stumbled a bit before regaining my footing and turning a glare on the arm's owner. I got a glance of Marlene's raised eyebrow that said 'I told you so' and frowned at her.

"So Evans, are you looking forward to Charms? You're pretty good you know, you've already Charmed me." He flashed me a cheesy grin and I spluttered up at him. "I've decided to forgive you for flirting with Sirius, we all know it was you trying to make me jealous. And guess what Evans? It worked." He stopped me in the middle of the corridor.

"Potter you have three seconds to let go of me and I won't hex you into oblivion." My glare must have actually worked this time because he took his arm off my shoulder, slowly of course, Potter couldn't resist the temptation to feel me up a little even if it just was my shoulder and neck. I shuddered as his fingers brushed my neck before leaving me all together.

I was ticklish, and from the look in Potter's eyes, he now knew that.

"Don't worry Evans, I know you love me really." He winked at me. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my friend's arms, dragging them towards the Charms classroom, hoping to get away from him. But of course that wasn't going to happen as we were in the same class. Life really sucked sometimes. We walked into the classroom and took the seats in the middle again, slightly closer this time because Professor Flitwick was so short. I got settled and ignored Potter and his friends as they once again sat behind us. I smiled at Remus however because he was the nicest one.

He was also a werewolf, but let's not focus on that right now.

Charms was amazing as always, Flitwick allowed us to get started on the Disillusionment Charm. I was a little annoyed that Potter and Black were learning this as they were probably going to use it in one of their pranks and they were bad enough when you could see them, let alone when you couldn't. I sat my desk and stared down at my hands. Flitwick had us starting small, trying to make our fingers disappear and it was really difficult. I was very good at Charms but this was seventh year, N.E.W.T year, it was time to step up.

I got it half way through the lesson, my fingers started going transparent and I almost jumped as Flitwick's squeaky voice sounded next to me. "Oh yes, look everyone Miss Evan's done it!" He smiled at me, lifting my hands up, it looked like a stump and was quite comical, but if you looked hard enough you could just about see the outline of my fingers. He gave me my hand back and smiled at me again before going off to help Pettigrew, who I had no idea how he got into N.E.W.T level Charms. Let's just say he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

"Lily." I turned around to see Marlene looking at me with puppy dog eyes and sat next to her, helping her with her wrist movement and sure enough after many, many attempts she got it. She squealed in excitement and hugged me with her stumpy looking hand. I laughed and set about to making my fingers appear again. It was actually harder than making them disappear and just when I thought I'd have an invisible hand forever, my fingers started to appear.

I sighed in relief and wiggled my fingers. I placed my wand down and looked around the room. It was nearing the end of the lesson and everyone apart from a few had managed it on at least one of their fingers. I turned around after hearing laughed and saw that Potter and Black were amusing themselves with making various bits of Peter's clothing disappear. I grimaced, hoping they weren't going to go too far, Peter wasn't the best thing to look at.

If only they were doing it to each other.

I could have slapped myself for that thought.

I shook my head and turned to Marlene who still hadn't made her fingers re-appear. "Marls, let me help you." She beamed at me, she got it just as the bell rang. Alice had managed fine by herself so I didn't feel too bad.

"What do you have next?" Alice asked me.

I fished out my timetable and groaned. "Arithmacy." The two of them winced.

"I don't know why you decided to take that Lils, my brain would melt." Marlene shuddered at the thought.

I laughed. "Of course yours would." I smirked at her outraged scowl and ducked when she tried to hit me. "I'm going, I'm going." I jogged a little ahead of the two of them, as they went of in separate directions. Alice had a free period whereas Marlene had Divination. I felt sorry for her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**It's not cheating, I swear**

Nothing compares to an Arithmacy lesson, it was the most stressful maths lesson that there possibly could be, there were so many calculations that couldn't be guessed, because a guess would mess up the entire equation.

It was times like this that I questioned my judgement in taking it. Who would willing subject themselves to this kind of torture? The answer to that question would be myself, Remus, Severus and a bunch of Ravenclaws. There were no Hufflepuffs in here, I don't know what that said about them.

I sighed as I got stuck once again, I was so close to giving up. Remus and I were sat together and I could see that he was a few questions ahead of me, if I could just peek over his arm. I froze in place as he looked at me, I smiled cheerfully at him and pretended to go back to work.

Once he looked away I tried again. Carefully edging a bit closer, I kept my eyes on him, hoping that he wouldn't catch me. That would be too embarrassing. I moved my chair a bit closer but I was too loud and it caught his attention.

"Yes Lily?" He asked, smiling a bit.

I knew I was caught so I grimaced. "Hey Remus, I was just wondering if you could help me." I motioned towards my parchment that was filled with crossing outs and scribbles.

"Sure." He lent over to check which question I was on. I caught a whiff of his scent, it was woodsy, like the forest. He smelt like nature and I actually lent in a bit closer to get more than a sniff. I snapped out of it when he turned to look at me.

"I can see where you're going wrong." He proceeded to help me with the rest of the question, making sure I understood what he was saying before starting on the next part. I was impressed, he would make a really good teacher one day.

"Thanks Remus, I'll try and do the next one by myself." I sat there in silence for the next twenty seconds before I gave up. "Remus..."

He turned back towards me with a sigh and a smile. He really was an angel, I had no idea why he chose to hang out with Potter and Black who were the opposite. They were the devil reincarnate. In two bodies.

Finally the bell rang and my torture was over, I packed up my stuff and headed towards the door after waiting for Remus. He also had a free period next.

"So for the homework?" I began.

"We have to complete the rest of the equations, would you like me to help you?" He asked, opening the door for me.

I smiled at him. "You're a lifesaver."

In the common room we worked for the rest of our free period, I helped him with Charms in return for his help with Arithmacy. This was something we did quite a lot and it worked well for the both of us.

Once the free period was over I met up with Alice who came up to get some different books for her lessons after lunch.

"Where's Marls?" I asked, following her up to the dormitory. "See you Remus!" I shouted after his retreating back, he turned back to wave and when he was gone Alice turned to me after opening the dormitory door.

"So are you and Remus...?" I gaped at her as she went to find her books.

"What? Me and Remus? No, no, no. We just help each other out with homework." I nodded to myself. Alice turned to give me a disbelieving looks.

"Really is that it? I was expecting some gossip Lils, help me out a bit here." She laughed. I rolled my eyes and picked up a few books that I would need and put them in my bag.

"Ready?" I asked, she stood up from where she was searching under her bed, having found the book she wanted and walked over to me.

"Let's go." She linked arms with me and we made our way down to the Great Hall, noticing that Marlene was seated at the Ravenclaw table, with her new 'friend'.

"That was fast." I commented as we sat down. I pulled some sandwiches towards me and started eating.

"Well you know what Marlene's like, when she likes someone she digs her claws in before anyone else can." I laughed at Alice's description, that sounded about right. We continued chatting away about everything and anything and as the conversation turned to Frank I knew that we would be on the subject for a while.

"He wants me to meet his mum." Alice spoke, fiddling with her knife and fork. "I do want to, but you remember what he said about her?" I nodded. "She's supposed to be like really strict and I don't know if she's going to like me.

I put my hand over hers. "Don't worry Alice, you're every parent's dream." She smiled at me before gushing about the last date she and Frank went on. I'd already heard this so I didn't feel too bad when I got distracted by the Professors table at the top of the hall. It reminded me that I had to go see Professor Dumbledore with Potter later this evening. I wondered what he wanted.

He caught my eye and raised his goblet towards me, I smiled back and tilted my own back at him. I averted my eyes quickly though, he may be the friendliest headmaster ever but he still exuded a feeling of power that made me feel a bit intimidated.

Alice was still going on about Frank so I tuned back in. "And then we went to a cute little bar down the road, I think I told you about it before."

I tuned her out again, umming and ahhing in all the right places. I did listen to her most of the time and I was really happy for her and Frank but sometimes I wanted to eat in silence and I would never admit to her this, but I was very happy when the bell rang and we went off to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

I hadn't noticed but Potter and his friends weren't at lunch. But I did notice when the entire seventh year Slytherins came in the Defence classroom covered in some sort of pink goo. I snorted, trying my best to cover a laugh, I didn't want Potter to think he was funny, and looked at Alice who was also trying not to laugh.

Looking around at the rest of the class who were already laughing it was clear that the Slytherins didn't know what everyone was laughing about and continued to sneer in that disrespecting way which made it all the more funnier.

I couldn't contain a slight chuckle, which drew the Slytherins attention towards me. Their sneers increased, which was actually quite impressive and they were about to say something but the Marauders entered the classroom.

Once they got a good look at their handiwork they high-fived one another, Potter looked in my direction and I covered all of my amusement. He looked a bit disappointed but turned his attention to his enemies.

"We always knew you were slimy." He began. "But you could have at least had a wash before coming out of your lair." He sniffed at them. "You've somehow become more disgusting." He waved his wand and finally they could see the pink goo. Malfoy looked the most embarrassed, his pale face had a tinge of pink that went well with the goo.

He drew out his wand which made the rest of the Slytherins follow his lead. "We'll get you for that one Potter." He was about to shout a spell but was interrupted by Professor Dew emerging from his office.

"Is there a problem there Mr Malfoy?" His eyes widened when he saw the goo, he sighed and turned to the Marauders. "Was this you four?" He already knew the answer but couldn't say anything because he didn't have any proof.

"Of course not Professor, this must be their natural look only they've forgotten that they had to come out in public today." Black sneered.

Professor Dew turned back to the Slytherins, waving his wand with his face expectant he obviously thought something was going to happen. With another wave his gave up. "Go back to your dormitories and clean up." He motioned for them to leave. "You're excused from today's lesson."

The Slytherins looked outraged that nothing more was being done. "But Professor!" Once they realised Dew wasn't going to do any more they all stomped out, it was actually quite funny to watch.

"You four go and sit down." The troublemakers grinned, knowing they had gotten away with it and walked to their seats at the back of the room. As Potter passed me he ran his hand over my shoulder, which elicited a small shudder from me. I shrugged it off and stared determinedly in front of me.

That did not happen.

The Professor then told us the basic format of our N.E.W.T examination. "There will be one two hour writing examination and one one hour practical test. Here are some examples of the written questions. You have the rest of the lesson, when you are finished please hand them in and I will mark them to be given back next lesson. You may begin."

One of the Hufflepuffs raised her hand. "Yes Miss Bones?"

"Are we allowed to work together?" She blinked up at him.

"Yes you may."

I grinned and turned to Alice and Marlene who had slipped in before the Slytherins and sat on the other side of me. "Okay guys, let's do this." She whispered, craning her neck to get a better look at the question. As soon as Dew had his back turned she began whispering about what had just happened. "I love how Dew couldn't get the goo off." She laughed quietly. "Must have been a spell only they could remove." I nodded and turned back to our assignment.

"Yes, yes, it was all very clever. Now back to the questions." I began scribbling down an answer to the first one, letting Alice and Marlene have a look before they copied it down.

"Yeah it was. If a Professor couldn't get rid of it, I'd hate to imagine how them scrubbing it off is going to work. I bet they come to dinner like it." Alice nodded her agreement.

"I bet they do to. I hope it stays on for a little while."

I rolled my eyes. "It probably will, you know what the Marauders are like. It'll probably stay on for a day or two."

"And you'd be correct Lily flower as always." I sighed as Potter interjected his unwanted opinion once again. Alice and Marlene immediately turned around to talk to him whereas I refused to. I felt his hand on my shoulder again and shrugged him off. Keep calm Lily, and carry on.

Ignoring him came easy to me, although he and Marlene and for some reason swapped seats. She got to sit next to Black and he got to sit next to me, it wasn't a surprise that they were both grinning like the cat who got the canary. "What do you want Potter?" I asked through gritted teeth, giving up with ignoring him as he kept poking me. I slapped his hand away as it came closer.

"What did you get for the first question?" He asked, leaning over to look at my paper. I knew it was a bit hypocritical to not let him look at my answers, seeing as it was what I'd been trying to do earlier with Remus, but this was Potter we were talking about. I wasn't about to help him.

"Why don't you try and work it out for yourself?" I huffed, moving onto question four and turning to Alice to discuss it.

The rest of the lesson moved in much this fashion, Potter tried to get my attention I would snap at him and then do the next question with Alice. When the bell rang I jumped up and handed my parchment to Dew before storming out. I had another free period now, so I decided to go and sit out by the lake.

"Alice do you have a free now?" I asked, Marlene had gone ahead with Sirius both of them were laughing happily. Whereas Potter, Remus and Pettigrew were trailing behind muttering to each other.

Alice fumbled with her bag, attempting to get her timetable out. "Umm, yeah I do. Where shall we go?"

"I'd like to go to the lake, finish up some of this homework." She laughed at me.

"Lily, didn't you do all of it with Remus earlier." I shook my head.

"I still have Potions to do." I argued. "We should go to the kitchens first, get some food for a picnic or something!" I got excited.

Alice chuckled. "We've just had lunch." But that didn't stop her stomach from rumbling at the mention of food.

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh alright then." She linked arms with me again and we walked down the stairs to the kitchens where we were immediately bombarded with house-elves.

"Would Miss Head girl like some food?" One of them tugged on my sleeve. I smiled down at the cute looking creature, it certainly wasn't the worse looking house elf I'd ever seen.

"Yes please, we'd like to have a picnic out by the lake. If it isn't too much trouble." They instantly started putting things into a basket for us, fruits, sandwiches, chocolates and pies all went in. I began to drool at the sight of it.

This place really spoiled us.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**Lead The Way**

Alice and I enjoyed our picnic immensely, the only thing that ruined it for me was that the Marauders also had the period off and decided to sit by the lake as well.

"No Potter." I slapped his hand away from our basket, resting my head against the tree behind me. I wanted to be left along with Alice and not be bothered. However I was pleasantly surprised when he actually listened to me. He, Black and Remus soon left us to go jump in the lake.

I was confused why they'd even do that because surely it was cold, it was September for Merlin's sake. I did have to catch myself because I found that I kept staring at Potter, who was having a great time playing in the water with his friends. He dunked Sirius laughing as he did so, exchanging grins with Remus as he did so.

I felt jealous of them at this moment, Alice and I were far too self-conscious to just jump in the lake like they did so easily. I snapped out of it and turned my attention back to Alice who was trying her best to tempt me with some chocolate biscuits, I laughed and took some. My eyes, however, betrayed me and found themselves drawn to Potter who was soaking wet, his white shirt had gone see through.

I shook my head and swallowed, what was going on with me? Snap out of it Lily.

"So, have you got any idea what Dumbledore wants to speak to you and Potter about?"

I blinked. "Um, no. There's been no clues since earlier. Guess we'll just have to wait." She nodded and grabbed a sandwich out of the basket. I grinned at her as she stuffed it into her mouth.

"Classy, real attractive." I laughed, the laugh soon turned to a shriek as I was picked up by something wet. "Potter let go of me." He seemed to find it appropriate to hug me, soaking wet as he was. He was so drenched that he made me sopping wet, I glared at him as I tried to wiggle away.

I broke free and heard him take a sharp intake of breath. I furrowed my eyebrows and wondered what was wrong with him. I followed his line of sight and looked down at myself, I gasped as I realised that my white shirt had become see through and revealed a lot more of myself than I wanted to show.

I gulped and was about to grab my cloak when someone put theirs over me. I looked up at Potter confused, I couldn't believe that he would pass up what was probably a golden opportunity for him. I did however feel a rush of warmth towards him as he glared at a group of passing boys who had managed to get a peek.

I shrunk further into the cloak, not even bothering to reprimand him when he threatened the group with his wand, it made me feel nice that even though this was his fault, he was trying to help me. If this was two years ago he wouldn't have been doing it, maybe not even last year.

Maybe he was growing up.

To be completely fair I'd honestly thought he was going to throw me into the lake, I smiled up at him, he deserved some sort of niceness from me after this.

I heard the bell ring, and grimaced, I'd have to rush up the stairs to change my shirt before dinner. I was really glad that I had no more lessons today, I don't think I could have handled it with the state of mind I was in.

"Thanks Potter." I said, grabbing the basket and Alice's hand before heading back up to the castle, forgetting that I had his cloak on, mine was on top of the picnic basket.

With a fresh, dry shirt I sat at the Gryffindor table eating a steak with roast potatoes with gravy. I was enjoying it probably a little too much but honestly those house elves could really cook. I drank deeply from my goblet before finally turning my attention back to my friends.

"Didn't you guys have a picnic?" Marlene asked, Alice and I looked at each other before nodding. "How are you both still hungry?"

I shrugged before eating another potato. "We saved some."

Her eyes lit up.

I looked down the table as I saw someone get up. It was Potter and he was heading in this direction. "Hey Evans, it's time to see Dumbledore." I nodded, said my goodbyes and followed Potter out of the Great Hall, ignoring the sudden increase in volume.

I had never been to his office before so I was happy to let Potter show me the way, we came to a stop outside a statue of a giant stone phoenix. I raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Potter. "Um, are you sure we're in the right place."

He smirked, looking me in the eye as he said. "Cockroach cluster."

I sighed. "Are you taking the-" The stone phoenix sprang to life and the was a kind of revolving stairway that Potter motioned for me to step on, it lifted me upwards until it stopped in front of a door. I waited for Potter before I knocked, the doorway wasn't that big so we were stood close enough that our shoulders brushed.

"Come in." I gulped, letting Potter open the door for me. I walked inside and was instantly amazed at the décor, there were so many things that I didn't know where to look first. I saw the Sorting Hat snoozing peacefully, along with many of the Headmasters and Headmistress' of Hogwarts Past only a few of which were awake and staring at us. But the thing that held my attention the most was the phoenix who was perched to the right of the Headmasters desk and the fact that James Potter was happily stroking it.

Jealousy coursed through me. I ignored it and took the offered seat in front of the desk, watching with increased interest as the two creatures interacted with one another.

"Hello Fawkes, sleep well?" He asked quietly petting the birds beak, earning a trill of pleasure. I smiled at the sound. If a phoenix liked him, he couldn't be that bad.

Our attention was bought back to Professor Dumbledore when he cleared his throat, his eyes twinkled at us as Potter came to sit in the chair next to me.

"I'm sure you both have been wondering why I wanted to see you?" We nodded. "I'm sure you're both aware of the threats that are escalating outside of these walls. The man who goes by the name of Voldemort has been gathering followers at an alarming rate and to keep the school safe I have decided that until further notice the two of you and the rest of the staff will be placed on increased patrols." I nodded, it would cut into a lot of my homework time but I would be able to make it work. I didn't really have a choice. It really did make a lot of sense.

"Of course Professor."

I was asleep when I heard it, a rumbling noise that was coming from over by the window. It woke me and the other girls up but we couldn't see anything.

"What's going on?" Alice mumbled, sleepily rubbing her eyes. I blinked rapidly trying to figure it out.

"I dunno." I sniffled and rubbed my face, feeling half asleep and rightly so as it was three in the morning.

Marlene yawned loudly and stretched. "I'm going back to bed." She huffed, finding our standing around pointless and as soon as she got in her bed she pulled the curtains around her bed and it didn't take long for us to hear her soft breathing signalling that she'd fallen asleep.

"I am too." Alice sighed, hopping into her bed. I turned to walk back to mine but I stopped as I felt something brush against my arm. I turned back to the window and squinted, but I still couldn't see anything. If I listened carefully I could hear breathing, I reached a hand out and reached out in front of me but it didn't come into contact with anything.

I furrowed my eyebrows before giving up, there was obviously nothing there so why bother staying awake. I glanced over at the other girls seeing everyone had already fallen asleep, Rachel and Sabrina hadn't even gotten out of bed in the first place. I made my way over to my bed, brushing off the feeling that someone was watching me.

I couldn't see anything. Nothing was there.

I pulled the cover over my body and settled back into bed, hoping that I would be able to fall asleep as quickly as the others had, I didn't want to be tired for tomorrow. I was just about to fall asleep when I heard something that made me sit up again.

It sounded like the door was moving, it stopped as soon as I looked at it and I got out of bed again. What was going on? I didn't want to wake anyone up again, there was no point. I was getting very frustrated because there was nothing there, nothing that could be making any noise.

"Hello?" I huffed, widening my eyes as I tried my best to see the outline of something, anything that made me feel like I wasn't crazy.

"Lily." Someone breathed, I blinked. There was a sharp intake of air which only drew me closer to the noise. I stayed there for a few minutes, staring determinedly at the area which I thought someone might be occupying. Finally I gave up, I was tired and I wanted to sleep.

Moving over to my bed I yawned before changing course and heading to the bathroom. I dismissed the thought that I could hear someone hissing something to another and stared at myself in the mirror. "I'm not crazy." I muttered quietly, shutting the door and using the toilet before heading back out and going to bed.

I felt someone brush the hair off my face as I drifted off, but through half lidded eyes I still couldn't see anything. Whatever, I give up.

Waking up the next morning I told Alice what I'd though I'd heard the previous night.

"So you stayed awake for an extra half an hour staring into space?" She laughed as she brushed her hair. I rolled my eyes before pulling my hairbrush through my own hair.

"I wasn't staring into space. I was trying to solve a mystery!" I put the brush down and picked up my mascara, applying it and trying my best not to poke myself in the eye with it. "And it was a mystery, my dear Watson." I smirked as I finished my make-up.

"What? My name's Alice?" I sighed.

"It's from a muggle book, um, never mind." She shrugged and headed into the bathroom, making space for Marlene to finish making herself beautiful. She smiled at me and held up two nail polishes. I laughed. "Do you even have time to do that?" I asked.

She pouted at me. "As long as I don't have breakfast, they can dry nicely. I always have time for beauty."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. "You can eat toast with drying nails." I pointed out, then pointed to the light blue polish instead of the green. "Green's too Slytherin, and blue is Ravenclaw, just like what's his name?"

Marlene didn't blush, simply smirking as she undid the polish. "Good point Lils." I stood up and smoothed over my uniform as Alice came out of the bathroom. We waited for Marls to finish up her nails and we headed down to breakfast, passing the Marauders who were minus Remus in the common room.

"Hey girls, sleep well?" Black asked, grinning over at us from his place by the fire, his legs hanging over the arm of the chair as he twirled his wand around his fingers, absent-mindedly making it snow over Peter.

Alice, Marlene and I exchanged looks. "We slept fine, not that it's any of your business." I said, going to walk out of the portrait.

"Ouch, Evans. I was only trying to be nice." He smirked, indicating that that was not the reason at all.

I grimaced at him, moving Marlene out of his line of sight. "I'm sure."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**Where there's a wand, there's a way**

I ran around the corner as fast as I could, hoping against hope that there would be something to help me hiding there. I gasped as a statue popped up out of nowhere, it was a statue of a one eyed witch with a huge hump back. I rested against it and turned to face the corner I'd just ran around. Time to accept my fate.

Twenty minutes ago, I had been ambushed by Slytherins. "Hello there Evans." Malfoy taunted, twirling his wand around his fingers and smirking at me. I grimaced and turned to face them.

"Malfoy." I greeted unhappily. As soon as I said his name, the smirk dropped off his face and he snarled at me.

"Don't sully my name by speaking it from your filthy lips."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you always have to be so dramatic?" I fake yawned and looked at my wrist. "Oh, would you look at the time? I have to be off. I would say it was nice speaking to you, but then I'd be lying."

He started chuckling as I walked away and before I knew it I was lying on my back. I grimaced as a twinge of pain raced through my spine. I couldn't believe I was stupid enough to walk away from them with my back turned. For a smart girl sometimes I could be so stupid. I struggled back up to my feet, not wanting the Slytherins to see the amount of pain I was already in. I should really work on my pain tolerance, this was really embarrassing.

"Not so fast, Evans." Footsteps came closer and I looked up into the steely grey eyes of Malfoy, behind him were Crabbe and Goyle, the two who followed him everywhere like bodyguards. Behind them were Lestrange and Black, Sirius' little brother. I was very outnumbered and although the beginnings of anxiety were coiling at the bottom of my stomach but I refused to let it show.

"What do you want now?" I spat, finally reaching my feet. I stood up straight, trying to make myself look taller and hopefully more intimidating with my head girl badge. "This is extremely stupid you do realise? I'm head girl." I pointed to the badge with a raised eyebrow. "That'll be 50 points from Slytherin for an unprovoked attack on another student."

Malfoy laughed at me. "Do you really think we care about house points?" He smirked and raised his wand. I quickly found my own and pointed it at him.

"I'm warning you Malfoy." I growled, locking eyes with him, green met grey.

He tilted his head and smirked before nodding to Crabbe and Goyle behind him. They both raised their wands but I was too fast for them. Their wands flew neatly into my hands and I threw them down the corridor behind me.

"How dare you!" Lestrange shouted, waving his wand. I shielded myself, sending the curse straight back at him. He went spiralling down the corridor, Crabbe and Goyle were now unsure of what to do and had resumed their place behind Malfoy. The youngest Black sibling had gone to check on Lestrange, obviously from my point of view, attempting to stay out of the fight.

Malfoy had begun smirking again. "You know, Evans? It's too bad you're a Mudblood." His smile was very nasty.

I cringed at the word. "And why's that?" I wrinkled my nose.

He casually started walking towards me. I didn't step away instead keeping my eyes on the threat. When he went behind me I turned to keep him in my sights. "I think you know why." He breathed into my ear, I shuddered and grimaced moving away from him quickly. I really wanted to leave this situation but knew I wouldn't be leaving that easily.

"I think that's enough, Malfoy." I warned, turning to press my wand against his throat and pushing him away. He walked backwards and the Slytherins formed some sort of wall, blocking my way through the corridor. I still refused to back down.

They would tear into me like a pack of wolves.

He shook his head, "I don't think so Evans. I think you've overstepped your boundaries and we're all getting quite sick of it." He motioned to Lestrange and Black who had managed to get back up and joined the pack. "It's time for you to learn your place." He smiled a sickening smile, that promised me quite a lot of pain.

I scoffed at them, unable to help it, even though I knew it wasn't going to help my situation. "Well you've certainly thought this through. We're at Hogwarts." I reminded them. "Anything you do here will get you expelled or even sent to Azkaban so I would think very carefully about what you were thinking of doing." I couldn't help the little smirk that graced my lips.

Lestrange smirked. "That's only if they find you." He bared his teeth. Malfoy sighed and held his arm to keep the boy back. He gave him a look which didn't quite silence him.

Malfoys eyes once again locked on mine. "What makes you think anyone cares about what happens to you?"

I stared back at him, refusing to let him see the effect his words were having on me. "I could ask you the same question." I snarled.

He laughed hollowly. "There's no comparison. I have the purest blood there is and you," His eyes flickered down my body before raising to my eyes again. "You're just a filthy, little Mudblood."

I laughed at him and shook my head. "Oh I'm so much more." This angered him as his wand slashed the air as he sent what was supposed to be a nasty curst at me. I whipped my own wand through the air and sent it straight back, while taking out Crabbe and Goyle at the same time. I dodged as a purple curse sailed over my head and sent a couple of stunners towards Black. The second one hit, and he was out like a light.

This left me with Malfoy and Lestrange to take care of. They didn't seem the slightest bit bothered that their 'friend's' were out of action, instead keeping their attention on me, something that I wasn't very happy with. I'd hoped this would have provided me with a suitable distraction to slip away.

I sent a flock of birds towards the two, watching in slight dismay as they set them on fire. I winced as the birds squealed in pain as they died and I felt a twinge of guilt for sending them to their deaths. I dodged another spell and worked some of my own magic on a suit of armour that was between the three of us. It jumped into action guarding me.

While Malfoy and Lestrange were preoccupied with the new threat I made my way down the corridor, hearing crashes and bangs behind me and knowing that they had most probably made quick work of my protector.

And here I was now, leaning against the statue of the one eyed witch, looking for somewhere to hide. I didn't want to be a coward or anything but knowing what I did about those two in particular, that they had joined You-Know-Who made me so reluctant to even engage in a fight with them. It was something I'd have thought nothing of last year.

But something had changed.

They had become so much more aggressive to those who they deemed lower than themselves and unfortunately I was included in this. I heard footsteps rounding the corner and I grabbed my wand, pointing it around the corner.

I was fully prepared to fight but something else caught my attention.

"Hey Evans! Up here!" A voice hissed. I blinked in confusion and looked up. It was, of course, James Potter. He was peeking out of the witches hump and staring down at me. Any other thought about Malfoy and co had completely fled my mind as I gazed up at him.

"Potter! What in Merlin's name are you doing up there?"

He rolled his eyes at me, and reached a hand down. "No time to talk Evans. They're coming." I shut my mouth and risked a glance at the corner and hearing the footsteps. They were getting closer.

I grabbed his hand and he helped me into the statue. There was a bit of a slide and I stumbled as we landed. He righted me and shut the passage entrance just in time.

We could hear them outside. "Where did she go?" Lestrange snarled.

Malfoy panted a bit before replying. "She must have ran off. Come on, I think we can still catch up." Their footsteps faded away, I could tell that they had spent a few seconds getting the rest of their crew in working condition before coming after me. Something, I think, which helped with my escape.

I let out a sigh of relief and turned to face Potter who had lit the end of his wand so that we could see in the darkness.

"Alright Evans?"

**AN: Sorry that this chapter is later than usual, and quite a bit shorter as well. But I felt that this is where it needed to end. The next chapter should hopefully come a lot sooner. Thanks for everyone reading and don't forget to review!**


	7. Chapter 7

** Chapter**** Seven**

**Through**** The Tunnel**

_"Hi Evans."_

I stared at Potter who was lounging against the wall as if he did this everyday, which, come to think of it, he probably did. "You alright?" He asked, seemingly concerned. I scoffed.

"Yeah I'm fine." I was very reluctant to thank him but I was raised by my parents to be polite so through not so gritted teeth I said, "Thanks Potter. For helping me out. I know you didn't have to."

He grinned and ruffled his hair, looking away and I was secretly pleased to see him turn pink. "I will always help you out Lily."

The way he said it made my heart beat a little faster and I took a deep breath to try and stop myself from blushing. "Thank you." _James._ I daren't say his first name aloud. I didn't want to take that next step because I didn't want to admit to myself that my feelings were changing.

Because they weren't and no matter what the blush on my face says, they weren't.

Potter walked forwards and smiled at me before tentatively taking my hand, waiting to see if I would brush him off, I didn't. His smile widened. "Let's go." He started walking, pulling me gently behind him.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Where are we going?" I asked, keeping my wand lit to see through the dark tunnel. It was quite creepy, I had to admit.

He gave me a secret smile. "Wait and see." I cursed him in my head, I hated surprises. We walked in silence down the tunnel for quite a while, I didn't know what to say to break the silence so I remained quiet, enjoying the strange sense of calm that I felt. "Here we are." He stopped walking, prompting me to walk into his back.

"Sorry." I mumbled, blinking away the feeling of his strong back. There was no time for these thoughts as Potter climbed a ladder that I hadn't noticed. I caught myself watching him as he climbed up and quickly turned away, hearing him push something aside. My curiousity got the better of me and I watched as he pushed something that seemed to be an opening as light poured in through the dark tunnel.

"Potter, what are you-?" He motioned for me to be quiet and poked his head into the light, after a few seconds he climbed out and waved me up.

"Up you come." He waited patiently for me to climb the ladder, keeping an eye over one shoulder, in case anyone came in.

As soon as I was out of the hole, I realised where we were. Potter put the tile back as I looked around, seeing boxes and boxes of sweets everywhere. "We're in Honeydukes aren't we?" Potter nodded, staring intently at me, seemingly searching for something. "What are we doing here?" I asked, feeling uncomfortable with the way he was looking at me.

He stopped and starting grinning his familiar mischevious grin. "Thought you might need some cheering up. I know anytime I see a Slytherin I start feeling sad, so I don't even know how you're feeling after talking to some of the slimiest." I rolled my eyes but smiled back, he was actually doing something nice for me instead of constantly embarrassing me. It was nice. "Let's go have some fun." I took his hand willingly and together we snuck out of the sweetshop and into the village. It was still sunny outside so there were a fair amount of people milling about, I started to feel a little nervous.

"We're gonna get in trouble." I hissed, attempting to pull my hand away and walk back. He didn't let go of my hand however and pulled me into the nearest shop, which happened to be The Three Broomsticks.

He chuckled at the look on my face, which I'm sure showed slight annoyance and worry. "Evans, you don't know how many times I've been here when I wasn't supposed to be and no one says a thing. Hello Rosmerta!" He exclaimed, greeting the pretty waitress with enthusiasm as she walked over. I felt a tinge of annoyance at this, quickly batting it down when he pulled me a little closer.

"James, what are you doing here again?" She held a hand up before he could say anything. "No, you know what I don't even want to know. What can I get for you and your beautiful friend." She flashed a smile at me, I could feel my face start to heat up, as it always did when someone complimented me.

"We'll have two butterbeers and do you want anything to eat?" Potter turned to look at me, smiling gently again. I felt a few butterflies erupt in my stomach and blamed it on breaking the rules.

"Um, I'll have a cheeseburger." He nodded.

"I'll have the same and some chips for the table please." Rosmerta put the butterbeers in front of us and Potter handed her the money. I had begun reaching for my money before realising I didn't have any and as much as it hurt me to let him pay for it, I didn't really have a choice.

"I'll pay you back." I promised as I sipped my drink.

He waved it off, taking a sip of his own. "Don't be silly." I bit my lip and looked down, feeling nervous all of a sudden. "Lily?" I looked up at him. "Are you okay, did the Slytherins do anything to you?" He looked so concerned for me that I felt my heart melt. What was he doing to me?

"I'm okay." I reassured him. "I can handle a few Slytherins."

He nodded and grabbed my hand. We were sat next to each other in the booth and were very close to one another. It made what he said next feel more intimate. "I just worry about you." He admitted.

"Why?" I laughed. "I'm nothing but horrible to you. Sometimes I feel like you should hate me."

"I could never hate you." He exclaimed, brushing some stray hairs behind my ear.

"But why? I'm so mean to you." I took my hand away and took another sip of butterbeer.

He stayed quiet for a few seconds, prompting me to look at him. "I could never hate you Lily. I like you too much."

I blinked, not expecting such a confession. "Really?" I asked. "I always thought it was a joke. Asking me out all the time, I thought you were doing it to annoy me because I'd never had a boyfriend before." I admitted.

He looked hurt. "Is that why you rejected me all the time? Because you thought it was a joke?"

I felt guilty all of a sudden. "Well yeah, Sirius would always nudge you and stuff, Remus would laugh, what was I supposed to think?"

"You think I would put myself through that for four years for a joke? Evans I've never put that much effort into a prank before and I don't think I ever will." He put a hand to his head, pushing back his hair. "I can't believe you thought it was a joke." He put his hand back down. "I'll clear it up for you right now. Lily, I like you. A lot." He gulped, taking my hand again. "I really do."

And I believed him, he was looking at me with such an earnest expression that I knew he wasn't faking it. I started laughing. "I can't believe it." He looked hurt. "No! Not in a bad way. I believe you like me now, I do. It's just all these years, I was so mean to you. I must have hurt you so much."

He smiled sadly. "Yeah, but I wasn't going to give up on you. I knew one day you'd come around."

"Here you two are." Rosmerta placed our burgers in front of us and the levitated chips were placed on the table as well. I immediately dug in, in an attempt to not have this conversation anymore. Potter took my lead and smeared ketchup all over his plate. I closed my eyes, forgetting how good the food here was, we really should make Hogsmeade visits more often.

I chewed my burger, thinking about what I was going to say next. I was only just this day beginning to see him in a different light. I felt like things were moving too quickly. "I'd like to be friends." I said, taking a fry and stealing some of his ketchup.

His head snapped up from where he'd been eating his burger, getting cheese all over his chin. He wiped it off but couldn't get rid of the huge grin he had on his face. "Really?"

I nodded and smiled, feeling happy about my decision. "Yeah, you're actually not that bad."

He snorted. "Thanks." The grin came back full force. "I can't believe Lily Evans wants to be my friend. I can't tell you how many times I've imagined this." I laughed at his, grinning back at him. But I felt guilty still.

If he liked me as much as he said he did, did this count as leading him on. I wasn't prepared for a relationship with him when I was just learning to be around him. But today wasn't that bad, I was actually having fun.

I could do this. I took a deep breath. As long as he didn't go back to his past self, where he pranked me all the time. That would kill this friendship faster than you could say Severus.

Potter, I mean, James, grinned at me everytime he looked at me. "Lily, I promise I won't give you reason to hate me again."

"I never hated you." I admitted, swallowing the last bit of my burger. "Just strongly disliked at times."

"Okay, strongly dislike then." We chuckled together, fighting over the last of the chips but it was a nice atmosphere. And who knew something good could come from a confrontation with a bunch of Slytherins.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**All Good Things Must Come To An End**

It was starting to get dark and although I was having a surprisingly good time I knew it was time to get going. "Come on, Potter, we should go." I stood up from the booth, surprising him by my sudden movement.

"Go where?" He asked, scrambling to stand up.

I rolled my eyes but laughed when he stumbled over his own feet. "Back to school. Look how dark it's gotten. We're going to be in so much trouble if we're caught."

"Relax Lily." He managed to stand properly, took out a galleon and left it to Rosmerta as a tip. "We're not going to be caught." He winked at me and pulled me out of the pub. "We've just got to be a bit more subtle than we usually are."

I assumed he was referring to the multiple arguments we usually had whenever we were in close proximity of one another. "Shut up Potter."

"What happened to calling me James?" He asked, tilting his head to one side and looking at me through sad eyes. "I thought we were getting along?"

"We are." I spoke through gritted teeth. "But when it comes to breaking the rules, we're still on a different page." He opened the door for me with a laugh and placed a hand on the small of my back to guide me through it.

"Oh Lily, you are one of a kind." His eyes sparkled as they looked at me and before I knew it some other emotion flashed through them. I couldn't identify it because it was gone as quick as it arrived but it seemed to give Potter the courage to lean down and press a kiss to my cheek. Before his lips made contact however, a loud bang was heard from behind us along with a sickening laugh.

I whirled around to see a man dressed in black with a mask on his face was blasting a few buildings as he walked down the street. I gaped at him, not understanding what he was doing. James on the other hand seemed to know exactly who he was because he pulled me to one side, down an alley where we were out of sight.

"James, what's going on?" I whispered, watching as the man walked past without seeing us and shot a spell at an innocent passerby.

"He's a Death Eater." He whispered back, eyes hard as he stared at the man. Before either of us could say anything else more of them appeared, apparating straight into the road. Immediate chaos broke out. Women were screaming, men were shouting and above it all, lights of every colour you could imagine streamed through the air, meeting their targets.

"We have to help." I muttered, seeing a little girl crying in the middle of the chaos. Her blonde hair was thrown about by the wind as spells flew over her head. I darted between James' hands and ran towards her, shielding myself as I went. I threw a stunner at the nearest Death Eater, watching as he went flying into a market stall that had been set up, sending wood everywhere.

I scooped the little girl into my arms and made my way back to James who was now out in open, sending spells at anyone who looked as though they were going to hurt me and the girl. I ducked as one particularly nasty orange light was sent over my head and put the girl down when we made it to the alley.

"Where's your mum?" I asked calmly, trying not to let my fear show on my face as I didn't want her to start crying even more that she already was.

"I don't know." She whimpered, fisting her hands in her dress and fidgeting. She screamed a little when a red light got past James' defences and almost hit us. Luckily it hit the wall behind us, leaving a large scorch mark in it's wake. I tried to calm her down by hugging her gently.

The two of us then heard a woman screaming. "Lucy! Where are you, Lucy!" She sobbed.

"Mummy!" The now named Lucy slipped from my grasp and ran past James who did his best to grab her. "Mummy!" She managed to make it to the other side of the street but there she was spotted by a Death Eater who had been trying his best to blow the windows out of the nearby shops.

"Aww look at the little baby." The man cooed, advancing on her threateningly. She startled and backed into the wall behind her, her face falling when she realised what was happening.

"Mummy!" She screeched, the woman luckily spotted her and ran over, blasting the Death Eater away with a bright red light that sent him flying through a window. She hugged her daughter to her and apparated the two of them somewhere else. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw this, having been looking over James' shoulder and trying to keep them as safe as I could.

James and I then spent a second deciding how we were going to get out of this, clearly someone needed to alert the Ministry as to what was going on and since we couldn't apparate yet, we were just going to have to wait it out as best as we could. Luckily we were hidden from the majority of Death Eaters, only one or two could actually see us and this gave us a tactical advantage.

We lay low, trying to wait it out as the Death Eaters only seemed to grow in size, blasting buildings and engaging in battles with random innocent people. There was only so much we could take, being in Gryffindor that before either of us saw anyone get seriously hurt we charged out to help.

We stuck together however, keeping an eye on each other in an attempt to watch each other's backs. I came face to face with a masked man who attempted to disarm me.

"Protego!" I shouted in a panic. "Stupefy!" I sent my own spell back at him, wincing when it missed. He turned back to me with a deadly intent in his eyes. I set about configuring a few of the stones in the road into a barrier of sorts. This was done quicker than he managed to sent a curse at me, the spell bouncing harmlessly off of my barrier which I soon reinforced.

I started using non-verbal spells, trusting myself to cast them correctly and protect myself. Bits of my barrier were being chipped away by the Death Eater who was growing increasingly more frustrated by the lack of blood he was managing to shed. I shot another curse over the top of it, ducking back down when a purple light fizzled past my ear.

I heard a scream of pain and looked behind me, eyes widening when I saw some of the people who had been in the Three Broomsticks with James and I were being attacked. I shot a curse at the one who was causing them pain, watching as he crumpled to the ground.

"Lily!" I peered over the barrier to see James was looking around frantically for me.

I stunned the Death Eater trying to curse me before revealing my location. "James!" He saw me and came running over, casting spells over his shoulder as he went. He jumped over the barrier, my magic automatically letting him in, and he collapsed down next to me.

"Are you alright?" He asked anxiously, wiping blood off of his face.

"I'm fine, are you?" I looked him over for any signs of injury but the only thing was the blood coming from a small scrape above his eyebrow.

He smiled in relief as he finished a similar scan on me. "Yeah, I'm good." The sun was beginning to set now, the darkness that I had been afraid of earlier now scared me for a completely different reason. James cast a shield covering both he and I as more Death Eaters appeared.

"Where are the Aurors?" I asked frantically, as I shot a curse at one of maniacs who rounded the barrier, wand raised high. He went down like a shot and tripped up one of the people behind him. I stunned him as well as soon as I saw the black robes. "There are so many of them." I dared to risk a glance over the top of the barrier and saw many black robed Death Eaters marching through the village.

Fire had spread from blasted buildings across the road, towards the joke shop which I knew was filled with magical fireworks. I cast Augumenti on it before there would be an explosion of colour before rethinking it and levitating them out of the shop and towards James and I.

His eyes lit up as he caught onto my idea. The Death Eaters had formed their own barrier consisting of themselves and crates which protected them from the few people who tried fighting back. James and I looked at one another before shooting off the fireworks.

The Death Eaters were caught unawares as the fireworks zapped around them and some of their robes caught on fire. Taking this opportunity the two of us crept out from behind my barrier and ran towards the alleyway we'd originated from. Honeydukes was blocked by a few Death Eaters so we had to play our cards right.

In the midst of all of the confusion, the Aurors finally arrived. I felt more comfortable with joining in the fighting, James and I had managed well without backup but, I couldn't speak for him, but my own mortality weighed heavily on my mind when we were alone. I risked my life for that little girl and that was enough of an adrenaline rush to get me through until now.

I was due for another however, my barrier had been destroyed by a well placed curse from one of the Death Eaters and it made me duck my head as bits of rubble went flying in every direction. James tried his best to keep me behind him as we came out of our hiding spot in an attempt to help.

"I don't want you to get hurt." He hissed as I dodged under his arm and took out a Death Eater who was laughing maniacally as he tortured an Auror. His screams were surely going to stay with me for a long time. The Auror lay limp on the floor.

I went to go and help him when another Death Eater stepped into my path, I sent a curse spiralling towards him, looking over my shoulder quickly to see James were also locked in battle, he never stayed in one place for more than a second, Quidditch had obviously helped him out here. His wand was shooting off spell after spell but the Death Eater was obviously talented as well because they managed to deflect them all and sent their own back.

"Look out!" I saw the Death Eater grinning sadistically at me, I dodged out of the way of the green curse he shot at me, which left a scorch mark in the wall behind me. I gaped at him and stepped up my own fighting, determined not to let him cast that at me or hopefully anyone ever again. My wand never stayed still from that point on, the Death Eater I had bound and gagged, stunned and then put in a corner where he would be arrested soon.

The fighting was so intense, I was sweating and heaving, trying my best to remain in the picture. I had a lot of cuts on my arms where a building had been blasted and I had been hit with a sizeable chunk of rubble. My shield was wavering but I knew we were winning the battle.

The same amount of Aurors and Death Eaters were out of action but they were showing a lot more breakage than we were. They were crumbling and they knew it.

Someone hit the wall next to me and I gasped as I saw James. I crouched next to him and protected us from anything trying to hurt us. He was alright however, having been flung from where he'd been standing by a spell that he had only just managed to block. He stood next to me and together we were about to go back into fighting.

But then all fighting stopped. I looked at James, confused. What was going on?

Out of the remaining smoke, caused by both rubble and the remainder of the fireworks that James and I had continued to set off randomly throughout the fight, stepped the one person we all feared, illuminated by the street lamp behind him.

The one person who would remain in our nightmares throughout history.

That person was Lord Voldemort.


End file.
